Work

Shaping an ultrafast laser light sheet for inscription of fiber Bragg gratings

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: A beam shaping approach employing a single spatial light modulator to generate uniform light sheets in an optical fiber is presented for the direct fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings using femtosecond laser radiation. A Gaussian beam is transformed into a narrow 700 nm light sheet by uniquely combining astigmatism, a one-dimensional axicon, and higher-order phase corrections to enable aberration-free air focusing into the core of a standard telecommunications fiber for plane-by-plane grating inscription. First-order single-pulse devices targeting 1570 nm and 863 nm wavelengths are reported with minimal insertion losses and reduced cladding mode coupling, achieving a sub-300 nm feature size and low birefringence. Comparison of single-pulse and multi-pulse formation of the grating elements indicates a further reduction in coupling to cladding modes with a 1000-pulse burst envelope.

Source: Optics Express

DOI: 10.1364/oe.587081

Authors: Polina Zavyalova, Suresh Sivanandam, Peter R. Herman

Language: English

Topic: Laser Material Processing Techniques

Subfield: Computational Mechanics

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,270

Funders: Canada Foundation for Innovation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Awards: Infrared Diagnostics of Galaxy Formation and Evolution, Shaping ultrafast laser interaction physics for nano-photonics